Leclapart has been a Courtier favorite for years: they are dramatic, idiosyncratic and wonderful champagnes out of the very top drawer.
"Leclapart’s wines are of extremely high quality, but they are also uncompromisingly individual. They are wines that I would serve to people who are not only already connoisseurs of champagne, but who also have an understanding of natural wines from other regions. At their best, they have a striking purity and finesse, and they express very clearly the character of Trepail.” – Peter Liem, Champagne Guide
Despite his youth (own label started in 1998) and the minuscule, 1,000 case production from his tiny three hectares of vines, David Leclapart’s particular talent is well-recognized by Richard Juhlin, the self-styled ‘gentleman of champagne.’ In his monumental reference ‘A Scent of Champagne,’ Juhlin praises Leclapart for “the masterpieces he creates in harmony with nature.” Furthermore, among the hundreds of producers he writes about, Richard Juhlin rates David Leclapart among only a handful of 4 -star producers. Only Krug (of course) Roederer (predictably) Jacquesson (curiously) and Selosse (naturally) rate higher, with 5 stars.
Of all of the apostles and acolytes of Anselme Selosse, the father of the growers own label movement, David Leclapart is surely the heir to Selosse’s Pan-like spirit. Leclapart is a man of the vines. To him, the vineyard is the subject to which the vintage adds some color. But where Selosse was perhaps whimsical, Leclapart is determined and driven. He is determined to express the character of his tiny three hectares of vineyards and he is driven to see his vision of unique batches from harvest through to bottling, almost regardless of any pressing commercial considerations.
Leclapart’s wines are unquestionably and emphatically biodynamic. He is a farmer first, before winemaker, eschewing blending and only bottling wines from single harvests (though the ‘vintage’ can only be deduced from the lot number, as they have not always adhered to the fine print of the code for true vintage dated champagne on the label.) All primary fermentations are by natural yeasts and all see 100% malolactic conversion. His best sites are fermented in small old wood barrels that lend his wines a powerfully vinous character of roundness and maturity that persists through secondary fermentation. Production is tiny, barely totaling 1000 cases a year across all his releases. So clearly, Leclapart’s wines are made for the true champagne connoisseur. They are made for those who appreciate both individuality and rigor. But they also express and carry forth a passion that is proudly worthy of the great pioneer and iconoclast himself, Anselme Selosse.
In stock and immediately available.
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